Space History for August 31

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1899Born, Paul E. Garber, founder and first curator of the US National Air & Space Museumref:en.wikipedia.org

1903Born, Bernard Lovell, English radio astronomer, founded Jodrell Bankref:en.wikipedia.org

1921Born, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kovtunenko, Russian Chief Designer and General Designer of NPO Lavochkin 1977-1995, started his satellite design career at the Yangel design bureauref:www.persona.rin.ru

1955The first solar-powered "automobile" was demonstrated, at Chicago, Illinois, USA, a 15 inch long model called the Sunmobile, built by William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corporation.ref:en.wikipedia.org

STS 51-I was scrubbed on 24 August 1985 at T-5 minutes because of thunderstorms in the vicinity. The flight was again scrubbed at T-9 minutes on 25 August 1985 when the orbiter's number five on-board general purpose computer failed. The launch on 27 August at 6:58:01 AM EDT was delayed three minutes, one second due to combination of weather and an unauthorized ship entering the restricted solid rocket booster recovery area.

Three communications satellites were deployed during STS 51-I: ASC-1, for the American Satellite Company; AUSSAT-1, an Australian Communications Satellite; and SYNCOM IV-4, the Synchronous Communications Satellite. ASC-1 and AUSSAT-1 were both attached to Payload Assist Module-D (PAM-D) motors. SYNCOM IV-4 (also known as LEASAT-4) failed to function after reaching the correct geosynchronous orbit. Fisher and van Hoften performed two extravehicular activities (EVAs) totaling 11 hours, 51 minutes. Part of the time (on 31 August and 1 September) was spent retrieving, repairing and redeploying LEASAT-3, deployed on Mission 51-D. The Middeck Payload on the mission was the Physical Vapor Transport Organic Solid Experiment (PVTOS).

STS 51-I ended when Discovery landed 3 September 1985 at 6:15:43 AM PDT on revolution 112 on Runway 23, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout distance: 6,100 feet. Rollout time: 47 seconds. Launch weight: 262,309 pounds. Landing weight: 196,674 pounds. Orbit altitude: 242 nautical miles. Orbit inclination: 28.45 degrees. Mission duration: seven days, two hours, 17 minutes, 42 seconds. Miles traveled: 2.9 million. The mission was shortened one day when the AUSSAT sunshield hung up on the remote manipulator system camera and AUSSAT had to be deployed before it was scheduled. The orbiter was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on 8 September 1985.

1993 04:40:00 GMTUSSR launched the Meteor 2-21 weather satellite from Plesetsk which operated through the end of 1994. The Italian Temisat small space facility was released into its own orbit on the seventh transit of the flight.ref:nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1995 06:49:59 GMTRussia launched the Sich 1 oceanographic remote sensing satellite from Plesetsk, which also carried the FASat-Alfa microsat for Chile that failed to deploy.ref:nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

1998 03:07:00 GMTNorth Korea attempted to launch its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong 1, from Musudan. Although it released news reports describing the satellite, the vehicle appears to have failed to reach orbit.

On 1 September 1998, North Korea reported the launch (on 31 August 1998) of its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong 1. This was followed on 14 September by the release of a photograph of the satellite, and the claim that the satellite had completed its 100th orbit of the Earth between 08:24 and 11:17 local time (2017 GMT) on 13 September. Video of the launch, the satellite, and an animation of the satellite in orbit were distributed to foreign news agencies the following weekend. The satellite appeared to be nearly identical to the first Chinese test satellite, which itself appeared almost identical to the US Telstar 1.

Despite these claims no foreign observer ever detected the satellite visually, by radar, or picked up its radio signals. The Pentagon first claimed it was an ICBM launch, and that the satellite story was just a cover for the test. After further analysis of the data collected on the launch, they admitted (nearly a month later) that there had been a satellite launch attempt. Apparently what happened is the third stage either failed and fell into the Pacific, or misfired and put the satellite into a low orbit where it decayed very quickly before it could be detected by foreign observers.ref:en.wikipedia.org

2004 23:17:00 GMTThe US NRO launched USA 179, the 63rd (consecutive successful) and last flight of the Atlas IIAS, the 576th and final launch of Rocketdyne-powered Atlas rockets, and the final launch from Launch Complex 36A, Cape Canaveral, Florida, after 42 years of use.ref:nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov